Spiritual Retreats
As I write this Pastor’s Pondering for our May Newsletter, I am between spiritual retreats. This past weekend, I was with a number of middle school age youth on a “Spark” retreat for confirmation at the Lake Michigan United Methodist Camp in Pentwater. This coming weekend, beginning on Thursday, Reba, and I will be part of the leadership and Ellen Zimmerman will be a pilgrim on an Emmaus Walk, which is in a sense a retreat for individuals who want to continue a journey with their Lord and savior Jesus Christ. On the Monday following the Emmaus Walk, which ended on Sunday evening, I will be attending an all-day pastor’s retreat organized by our Western Waters District. Last fall I had a spiritual blessing by attending one of the best spiritual retreats I have ever been on. It was sponsored by the Rural Church pastor’s Fellowship of the Michigan Area Conference.
The meaning of a spiritual retreat can be different for our many religious communities. Spiritual retreats are an integral part of many different religious practices including the United Methodist denomination. There are many reasons to participate in or be on a retreat. Maybe it is for wellness, mindfulness, maybe physical or adventurous, to detox or just to relax.
Retreats have become valuable in the Christian Churches and can be traced back to Saint Ignatius of Loyola when he took others on a “spiritual exercise.” Pope Pius IX in 1922 named Ignatius the Patron Saint of Spiritual Retreats. Spiritual retreats were introduced to the Protestant church beginning in England in 1856 where many clergy and then laity attended retreats that lasted up to five days, sponsored by the Society of the Holy Cross. Other retreats that followed were typically three to four days in length and featured much silence and prayer. As the practice of retreating became more popular, their designs included more conversation and leisure. In the latter part of the 19th century, Christianity developed camp meetings to promote spiritual renewal and they happened far from the city and in natural settings. These camp renewals were an opportunity to pray, sing and listen to sermons for several days. Many different denominations have camps that had their beginnings in hosting camp meetings. Today we quite often refer to these locations as conference centers which will host a variety of “retreats.”
Some of the benefits and reasons for seeking a spiritual retreat: you will learn more about yourself, you are cautious in what lies ahead. You want to experience a new spiritual tradition, culture, or schooling. You need clarity in your life decisions. You are experiencing a loss; you are stressed and feel the need to relax or unwind. You have developed possible health issues that traditional medicine has not been effective in relieving your affliction. You crave to surround yourself with people of like condition and mindset and a support group can be developed. You want to rejuvenate, re-energize, and maybe even pamper yourself. You are looking for either a closer or an extended walk with God.
While on a spiritual retreat, you may just be, give thanks, praise God, confess your shortcomings, pray for others, feed your mind and spirit, study scripture, dialogue with others, listen, plan, reflect, claim God’s promise, practice spiritual disciplines and much, much, more. When spiritual retreats are planned and organized, many of these practices guide us as we get to know ourselves better and the relationship that we seek with God as Father, Jesus The Son, and the guiding of the Holy Spirit.
I want to encourage each one of us to find something valuable in a spiritual retreat. The next time a spiritual retreat is offered to you, it is my prayer that you will take the time to explore, meditate and pray on the possibility that the Holy Spirit is directing you to find a new place as we journey individually and together to the exciting places Jesus is taking us.
Claybanks United Methodist Church 